Features

Effective Management in a Crisis

Thursday 1st January 2015

Any crisis has the potential not only to seriously disrupt or affect business continuity but also poses a significant threat to the organisation's reputation, both with customers and within their field of business. A poorly handled crisis will no doubt attract considerable adverse media attention and could even jeopardise the safety of individuals, either staff or, in the case of product contamination, members of the public.

The role of a Crisis Management Team (CMT) is to coordinate the response to the crisis and, where appropriate, provide liaison with the police investigation.

Depending upon the nature and magnitude of the incident, a tiered response by the company or organisation may be appropriate and it is important that appropriate representatives are involved at each tier of responses. This may include a corporate CMT operating at head office level, working in conjunction with a Forward Management Team and a Tactical Management Team in close collaboration with those directly affected by the crisis.

For a CMT to be effective during a crisis, it is suggested that the group meets and trains together regularly. Crisis scenarios can be worked through in a measured fashion without the additional time pressures and demands that a real life crisis will bring.

See our feature here for more advice on how to establish and run an effective Crisis Management Team.